Super Smash Bros. will not make an appearance at Evo 2022
Super Smash Bros. will not make an appearance at the next edition of the Evolution Championship Series, according to a statement from the Evo Twitter account. Evo 2022 will be the first tournament in the series since 2012 to not feature one of the Smash games.
“Since 2007, we’ve seen historic Super Smash Bros. moments created at Evo’s events,” the statement said. “We are saddened that Nintendo has chosen not to continue that legacy with us this year. In the future, we hope to once again celebrate the Super Smash Bros. community alongside them.”
It appears Evo has excluded Smash from the 2022 line-up at Nintendo’s request. This year, Nintendo is set to host its first official circuit for Melee and Ultimate in conjunction with Panda Global. However, Nintendo has not shared additional information about the circuit since announcing it in November of 2021. Currently, it is unclear how or if the Panda circuit influenced the decision to remove Smash from Evo.
— EVO (@EVO) February 26, 2022
Smash at Evo before 2022
Prior to 2022, Evo has historically been one of the most significant Smash majors. Evo World 2007 was the breakout tournament for Joseph “Mang0” Marquez, who is now considered the greatest Melee player of all time. In addition, Evo was home to the biggest tournaments to date for Melee, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Smash Ultimate.
Melee became a regular member of the Evo line-up in 2013. The platform fighting game earned a spot in the roster after the community raised nearly $95,000 for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. However, Nintendo requested that the tournament organizers not host Melee at all, then later allowed them to host a tournament if they didn’t stream it. Nintendo reversed the decision mere hours after announcing it.
Evo featured Melee in 2007, then again from 2013-2018. The fighting game tournament series also hosted Brawl from 2008-2009, Smash 4 from 2015-2018, and Ultimate in 2019.
Although Smash will not make an appearance at Evo 2022, fighting game fans have other games to look forward to. Viewers can find out the full tournament line-up on March 8 at 8 p.m. EST on Evo’s Twitch.
